More crashes than overtakes

It was the first time second-tier motorsport had been to Imola in AGES, so all the drivers were made to talk about how much they loved the history. Everyone except Cem Bölükbasi, who had fractured a rib after crashing a load of times and was replaced by David Beckmann. Get well soon Cem!

Practice: Armstrong and Boschung crash

The start of Practice was delayed for hours because it was raining and then delayed ten minutes more, but eventually the drivers were allowed to start spinning and crashing on the slippery circuit. Olli Caldwell led the way, spinning himself into a gravel trap and being forced to make a slow and bumpy journey out again. A few minutes later and it was Marcus Armstrong doing a similar thing, except he couldn’t get out and the red flags were waved.

The session resumed with 17 minutes still to go, until Logan Sargeant had a wobbly moment and a spin, made even more wobbly by Jake Hughes having to dodge out of his way twice. Hughes carried on unscathed, while Sargeant was stopped on track, facing the wrong way. Another red flag.

Only five minutes remained when Practice resumed. While Ralph Boschung was going very fast, he wasn’t always under full control and the final red flag was called as he lost it and spun lots. Practice was over. Boschung was the fastest, while Jüri Vips was second and Jehan Daruvala was third. Championship leader Felipe Drugovich was sixth fastest.

Qualifying: Caldwell crashes

Qualifying was delayed because Practice was delayed and it was wet and horrible everywhere. Nonetheless, everyone headed out, as they had to, except Frederik Vesti who was having his car fixed or something.

Everyone was very fast, right from the start, with Clément Novalak, Boschung and Vips all trading fastest laps. That is until Caldwell spun, again, bringing out the red flag, again. “I lost the car”, he declared mournfully. Bad news for Caldwell, but good news for Vesti, whose team now had a bit longer to fix his car, which apparently they did.

As the clock restarted with 21 minutes to go, they were all busy running off the track and cutting corners, rather than improving their lap times. For Enzo Fittipaldi, however, it was his rain light that was the problem and he was ordered into the pits by Race Control to get it fixed.

The last ten minutes was just a lot of fast laps and Jack Doohan appearing from nowhere. They finally all ended up with Vips on pole, Ayumu Iwasa second and Doohan third.

In the press conference, Vips was happy because he thought he had lined himself up for a good weekend (if only you knew Jüri), Iwasa was not focusing on the results, only gaining experience (that doesn’t sound very Red Bull Ayumu) and Doohan said he had no confidence in his car (not worrying at all for the 17 drivers who qualified slower than him).

Later that evening, the stewards deemed that Logan Sargeant had been impeded by Hughes, who had been impeded by Fittipaldi. Hughes and Fittipaldi both got three-place gird drops for the Sprint Race, putting them in 20th and 18th, respectively.

Sprint Race: Beckmann and Novalak crash

The grid for the Sprint Race is determined by reversing the top ten from Qualifying, so Sargeant was on pole, with Armstrong second and Daruvala third. Things probably didn’t go as Sargeant had hoped, as he wasn’t first for very long, or second or third, as an excellent start from Armstrong saw him take the lead, while Daruvala and Dennis Hauger jumped up to second and third, with Roy Nissany in fourth and Sargeant a lowly fifth.

Meanwhile, things were also going badly for Beckmann who had crashed after everyone was bashing into each other at the start. He got nudged by Novalak, who claimed that Beckmann just spun in front of him, despite Novalak’s broken front wing perhaps indicating otherwise. Beckmann was out, Novalak was in the pits and the Safety Car was deployed.

After the racing resumed, it was boring for a bit until Boschung generated some excitement by breaking down, causing a Virtual Safety Car and the saddest walk away from a stricken car that you ever saw. Once the VSC was over, Daruvala stepped up his game and began trying to put Armstrong under pressure for the race lead. Armstrong wasn’t going to tolerate this kind of thing and also picked up his pace, so they continued until the end. Behind them, Hauger was defending against Nissany to keep his third place, with some random damage on his car adding a hint of jeopardy, however ultimately Hauger held on to score his first F2 podium, with Nissany coming in half a second behind.

In the final classification, we discovered that Amaury Cordeel was listed as not having even started, which just goes to show how much he was missed in the race.

After the race, winner Armstrong was full of upbeat words about how his radio wasn’t working and how he only got an average start (but that Sargeant’s was a disaster), while Daruvala explained how he had a bad start, hampered by Sargeant who got in his way, and Hauger thought it was really hard to overtake. Positivity all round.

Feature Race: Everyone crashes

Before the race even started, Caldwell was under investigation for nearly hitting a tyre trolly when driving through the pit lane, which resulted in him getting a three-place gird drop for the next race (the Barcelona Sprint Race), which I’m sure he was totally fine with. In contrast, pole-sitter Vips was happy. Actually smiling. Maybe things would work out for him this weekend…

What to say about the Feature Race start? Despite extensive replays, no one really knows how it happened. What can be determined from the footage is that the top two on the grid, Vips and Iwasa, had bad starts, triggering chaos for all those around. In their desperate attempts to lunge past the lagging front row, third place Doohan managed to hit fifth place Hauger, ricocheting off him and into the back of Vips (I don’t understand either). Vips somehow survived, but Hauger was in the wall and out, while Doohan had bent everything on his car and was also out. As the Safety Car took to the track, it was clear that Nissany was miraculously in first place, with Boschung (who started fourth) in second and Iwasa third. Vips had dropped down to fourth, with Théo Pourchaire (who started seventh) up to fifth.

The top three were all looking close as the Safety Car made its way back to the pits, but the restart was smooth. Much smoother than Vips’s driving, who a lap later went wide, spun, and hit the wall. Out of the race, all on his own accord, with the volume of swearing that would be expected with such an event. The Safety Car was back out, which created an excellent pitting moment for those on the soft tyres (apart from Iwasa who seemed to ruin his whole strategy by pitting a bit later than the others) and crushed the hearts of all those who had been giving the alternative strategy a go and weren’t able to take advantage of a quick pit stop under the Safety Car.

All Nissany had to do now, to win his first F2 race (that may or may not be a factually correct stat, but it sounds right), was to keep going. He crashed, giving Vips a run for his money on “most ridiculous crash of the day”. Luckily for the marshals, Nissany’s crash took him down the pit lane, allowing him to park up and effectively tidy his own crash away. “I’m very sorry guys,” was his mournful radio message.

The second round of pit stops, for those who started on the harder tyres were soon underway, while Cordeel was given a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits and then a ten-second penalty for exceeding track limits and then a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits.

By this time, most had done their mandatory pit stops, apart from Drugovich who was in the lead and been told by his team to stay out in case there was a Safety Car and he could take his stop then instead. This turned out to be a wise call, as a few laps later it was sudden chaos as Liam Lawson had done a Vipssany and was in the wall. The Safety Car was out, just as Drugovich drove past the pit entry.

It was then decided that the race would finish under the Safety Car, which meant Drugovich had time to get his pit stop in, but he wasn’t able to take advantage of new soft tyres and so dropped back down to midfield obscurity. The surprise podium was Pourchaire, Fittipaldi (seriously, where did he come from, he started 15th!?) and Boschung.

Cordeel also got a surprise in the form of a stop/go penalty for speeding in the pit lane while he was doing his drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits.

Pourchaire was characteristically VERY happy, Fittipaldi somehow managed to be even more happy and Boschung quipped “maybe not the quickest, but it’s always under control” having seemingly already forgotten Friday Practice. The podium was a lovely display of Pourchaire, passionate, hand on heart, as the French national anthem played, Fittipaldi grinning and Boschung slightly dancing along.

There was somewhat less positive loveliness in the stewards room, where Armstrong was handed a five-second time penalty (dropping him from 13th to 16th) for spinning his wheels while up on the jacks during his pit stop and Cordeel got a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which I have given up keeping track of to be honest. Just what the fuck Cordeel?

Championship Standings crash for everyone except Drugovich and Pourchaire

After a stealthily good weekend, Pourchaire is now leading the championship (52 points), with Drugovich dropping to second (50 points). Everyone else trails far behind, with Daruvala third (36 points), Lawson fourth (35 points) and Richard Verschoor in fifth, on equal points with sixth-placed Boschung (32 points). The next round is Barcelona, which is a normal track, so whoever wins there will win the championship.